Terrifying
by TotalCSIfan
Summary: A routine trip to the store turns into a nightmare for the Stokes family. Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

Terrifying

Chapter 1

"Come on Jasmine you have to stay close to mommy." Jackie said as she grabbed the little girl's hand.

Jackie had stopped at the store after work, normally she wouldn't have the kids with her but today Nick had worked so late that by the time he finally got off it made more sense for her to pick up the kids from her parent's house then it did for him to do it.

Jackie was struggling to keep track of Jasmine and pushing the cart at the same time. At least 8 month old Houston was cooperating, he was fast asleep in his car seat that was situated in the back of the shopping cart.

Jackie stopped in the soup isle and then went to several more aisles to pick up the different things she needed. Shopping was taking much longer than she had anticipated because not only was she having to keep track of Jasmine, but the store was crowded as well because it was just a little after 5:00 P.M.

The last aisle Jackie had to go down was the shampoo aisle. She stopped in front of the shampoo she wanted, when she looked up she saw Jasmine had wandered a couple of steps in front of her.

"Jasmine get back here." she said with a sigh, she was getting frustrated.

Jasmine obeyed Jackie and came back, but she was carrying two bottles of blonde hair dye.

"Oh for Pete's sake." Jackie mumbled. "Jasmine, you do not need two bottles of blonde hair dye." She said as she took the bottles from the child's hand and then grabbed Jasmine's hand.

"Come on, let's go put these back, you little stinker."

Jackie and Jasmine walked the couple of steps and put the bottles back, then they turned and headed back to the cart. When they got back to the cart, Jackie was horrified because Houston was gone!

To Be Continued…..


	2. Chapter 2

Terrifying

Chapter 2

"HOUSTON." Jackie screamed in a trembling voice.

She scooped Jasmine up into her arms and sprinted towards the front of the store.

"Help, my baby's been kidnapped." She shouted.

An off duty police officer happened to be at the store. He told Jackie that he would make the store lock its doors and all she should do is call the police. She did and within minutes the store was swarmed by cops. Unfortunately whoever had taken Houston had already left the store, they hadn't locked it down fast enough.

"_Oh God this is not happening, this is a dream, please let this be a dream." _Jackie prayed as she shakily dialed Nick's number.

"Hey Hon." Nick said after looking at the caller I.D on his phone.

He was enjoying a quiet afternoon at home in front of the television after a long day at the lab.

"Nicky, somebody took Houston, he's gone." Jackie said, she was clearly hysterical. "What do you mean he's gone?" Nick asked as he leapt from the couch.

"I'm at the store, Jasmine wandered a couple steps ahead of me and grabbed something I didn't need so I put it back and when I turned back around he was gone. Please just hurry up and get here." she sobbed.

"What store are you at?" He asked, barely able to speak.

"Martins." She answered.

"I'll be right there." He said as he hung up the phone. He put his shoes on, grabbed his keys and then he was out the door.

While driving there Nick couldn't believe what he had just heard, he prayed that it was all just a big misunderstanding and Houston would be in Jackie's arms when he arrived at the store, but as he pulled into the parking lot and saw the red and blue flashes of the police cars lights his heart sank. He sprinted into the store and found Jackie, sobbing as she was being questioned by a police officer.

She had Jasmine in her arms and the poor child looked like she was confused and frightened. He ran over to them and wrapped Jackie in a hug.

"It's going to be alright, I'm going to call the team and we'll figure this all out, we'll find him." He said trying to make himself believe his own words.

He knew all too well how these types of cases often turned out, but he knew for Jackie's sake he had to keep it together and maintain a positive attitude. When the officer was done questioning her she immediately called all of her family and friends while Nick called Catherine and the rest of the team. Within minutes everyone showed up to help in anyway that they could, Catherine and all the other CSI'S were going to lead the investigation while Jackie's friends were going to help in the search.

"Jackie, would you be willing to come down to the station for questioning and to take a polygraph? It's just procedure, and you don't' have too but it'll look suspicious if you don't. In these types of cases, we have to clear the family first." Jim Brass asked her as he gently guided her away from everyone.

"Yes, I'll do it, I'll do anything, let's go." She said.

"Ok, and Nick and the rest of your family should do it too."

"They will." She assured him.

Soon Nick, Jackie, and her family members were headed to the station, Catherine took over the investigation while they were gone. She told Greg to find out if the store had surveillance camera's, unfortunately they didn't.

"Jackie, just so you know, I do not believe for one second you had anything at all to do with this, this is just a formality really." Brass told her once they had arrived at the lab. He was now taking her to the polygraph room.

"Thank you." She said quietly. In his career Brass had dealt with a lot of families that had had their children kidnapped but never before had he seen anyone so distraught as Jackie was. She looked to be in a state of confusion, as if in a daze. Brass stopped in the room that held the polygraph exam. The polygrapher was waiting for her.

"Hi Jackie, I'm Bill, I'll be administering your polygraph test."

Jackie nodded. Brass guided her to the chair, "it'll be ok." He said as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

He then turned and left the room. Bill got Jackie all hooked up to the machine and then began. He started with the basic questions

"Is your name really Jackie Stokes?"

"Yes." Jackie said.

"Are you the biological mother of the missing infant?"

"Yes."

He asked her a couple more basic questions before beginning the important ones.

"Did you have anything to do with your sons' disappearance?"

"No." She answered.

"Do you know who took your son?"

"No." Jackie said quietly as she struggled to hold back tears.

"Do you know where your son is?"

Jackie shook her head from side to side, tears were now streaming down her face and she was so upset that she couldn't even speak.

"I'm sorry I know this is very difficult but I need a verbal yes or no." Bill said.

"No." she squeaked.

That was the last question. Bill then unhooked her from the polygraph machine and led her out of the room, he felt horrible for this woman and he'd just met her. She was broken, completely broken, she had passed her polygraph with flying colors and it was obvious to him that she loved her child deeply.

"Mrs. Stokes, I truly hope you find your son and that he is safe and sound." He said once they were out in the hall.

She nodded, she couldn't speak.

He then turned and walked back into the polygraph room. Jackie collapsed in Nick's arms, he and the rest of her family had been waiting for her out in the hallway, they were waiting for their turn to take the polygraph. Nick held her tight and just let her sob into his shirt. After a few moments she looked at him, he had never seen her like this. The normal sparkle in her gorgeous green eyes was gone, her mascara was running down her usually happy face, and tears stained her cheeks. She looked like a zombie.

"What do we do now?" She asked Nick, her voice just a whisper. "When your mom is done with the polygraph, I want you and your mom to go home and make missing person posters and then plaster them all around the city, we need to get Houston's face out there."

Jackie nodded and then asked "What are you going to do?" "I'm going back to the store to help Catherine and the team with the investigation."

"Ok." She said quietly as she turned to her mother as a new set of tears threatened to pool from her eyes.

"Jackie, look at me baby." Nick said as he took her face in his hands.

She looked him in the eye.

"I need you to hang in there with me. You have to keep it together the best you can, Houston needs you right now, and you aren't going to be able to help him if you're hysterical. We'll get through this, I promise." He said as he once again wrapped his arms tightly around her.

Soon he was finished with his polygraph and was headed back to the store where the kidnapping had taken place while Jackie and her mother were headed home to make the missing person posters.

On the poster there was Houston's picture, the phone number that people should call if they see the baby, and a reward of $27,200 (every dime the Stokes' had in their savings account) for information leading to Houston's safe return. After the first poster had been made Jackie just stared at it in disbelief. She couldn't believe that her sweet little innocent baby boy was on a missing poster, but there was his picture. The picture showed a happy and smiling baby, dressed in an adorable outfit with bears on it, and he was holding his favorite blanket.

"Oh Houston, Mommy is so sorry, I love you so very much. We're coming baby, just hang on." Jackie said to the picture as tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.

Jackie wished so bad that the kidnapper had taken her instead, slit her throat, raped her, strangled her, anything, anything rather then what they _had _done.

"Jackie is the poster ready?" Her mother asked as she came into the room.

"Oh Sweetie." She said as she wrapped her in a hug after she saw the tears running down her face.

Her mom took the poster from her hand and after she saw the picture of her innocent and beloved grandson on the missing person poster she too began to cry.

"Let's go make the copies." Jackie said quietly.

So together the two women went to the nearest copy store. They made tons of copies of the posters and then distributed them throughout the entire city. Once they were finished they headed back to the store to rejoin Nick and the others.

When they got to the store Jackie had a great idea. One of Jackie's closest friends was a reporter for a local news station in Vegas, Jackie thought it would be great if Nick and herself could be on the news that night. That would be an excellent way to get Houston's face out in the public. Ashley was out with the other volunteers when Jackie got back to the store so Jackie immediately dialed her number. Ashley was more then happy to put her and Nick on the news. She immediately called a camera crew from the news station where she worked and they arrived there in no time. The interview was conducted in the back of the store so it would be quieter.

Nick and Jackie made a tearful and heartfelt plea for not only everyone to be on the lookout for their son but for the actual kidnapper to please return Houston unharmed. As soon as the interview was over Ashley promised Jackie that it would be on the news that night at 10:00 P.M. Nick and Jackie thanked Ashley and the rest of the news crew. Ashley, Jackie, and Nick were just about ready to go rejoin the others to help in the investigation when they heard the click of high heeled shoes on the tiled floor. They turned around and saw Catherine walking towards them.

Jackie did not like the troubled look on Catherine's face.

Catherine placed her hands on Jackie's shoulders as she looked at both her and Nick and said "Nick, Jackie, I'm so very sorry to have to tell you this, but an infant's body has just been found a couple blocks from here."

Everything went black for Jackie as she hit the floor.

**To Be Continued…..**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When Jackie came to she opened one eye slowly.

"Oh good, it was just a nightmare." She mumbled softly.

Then she noticed Ashley, Nick, and Catherine all kneeling over her.

"Ash, Catherine, what are you guys doing in my room?"

"Are you ok, can you sit up?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah." Jackie said as she rubbed her temples.

"Where am I?" Jackie asked as she noticed for the first time that she was not in her room.

Ashley, Catherine, and Nick exchanged sad glances.

"You're at Martins hon." Nick said quietly as he gently helped her sit upright. Jackie's eyes widened in horror.

"Martins, you mean this wasn't an awful dream?" She asked with her voice shaky.

"No." Nick said as he hung his head.

"Then that means…." Jackie's voice trailed off as the horrible realization hit her.

She began to sob. Nick wrapped his arms around her as he too began weeping. Ashley placed a comforting hand on Jackie's back and Catherine did the same to Nick, although both knew it wouldn't help in the slightest. Nick and Jackie sat on the floor with their arms wrapped around each other for about ten minutes and then Catherine and Ashley helped the grief stricken and heart broken parents into chairs. Catherine had never seen either of them like this. Jackie appeared to be numb inside, almost as if her sole had died along with her son, and Nick, the usual cool, calm, level headed investigator seemed lost and confused.

"I'll go get them some water, you stay here with them." Catherine told Ashley.

Ashley nodded her head. A few minutes later instead of coming back with two glasses of water Catherine came sprinting back into the room with her hands empty.

"The baby that was found dead, it was a girl, it's not Houston." She said sounding almost out of breath.

Nick and Jackie leapt from their chairs.

"Are you sure Catherine?" Nick asked, not wanting to get their hopes up.

"Positive, Brass just called and told me." She said.

Nick and Jackie again threw their arms around each other and sobbed, however this time it was tears of relief. It was true that their son was still missing but at least there was hope that he might be found alive. Nick again went to go help in the search, and Jackie, her mom and Ashley went to go make more missing person posters.

Three days after the kidnapping there was still no sign of the baby. Nick and Jackie had been on every local news station in the city. They were exhausted, neither of them had slept, and if it wasn't for the insistence of their families and friends neither of them would have eaten either. Although the couple was going through hell it was overwhelming to them how much support they had gotten, not only from family members and friends but from total strangers. Since the kidnapping, several searches had been launched, and hundreds upon hundreds of volunteers had come out to help. Some worked at their jobs all day and then as soon as they got off of work they would come help look for the baby. Jackie's family helped her organize a candlelight ceremony for Houston and over one thousand people showed up. It seemed like the entire city of Las Vegas had fallen in love with Houston.

The next day (4 days after the kidnapping.) Jackie was at Martins, she was just about ready to do yet another interview with a t.v station. She took a sip of water.

"How are you holding up?" Nick asked as he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm ok." She lied.

She wasn't ok because she still didn't have her baby in her arms, and as far as she was concerned she wouldn't ever be ok again unless she did.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were out searching?" she asked.

"I was but I wanted to do the interview with you, I'll go right back out and rejoin the search when the interview is done."

Jackie nodded.

Nick looked so tired, the bags around his eyes were heavier then when he would pull a triple at the lab, and his clothes were disgusting because he had been searching in a landfill. That's something that a father should never have to do, search in the landfill for his missing child.

"We're going to get through this." He promised his wife as he squeezed her hand.

"I know." She replied.

The news reporter came into the room, "Ok Mr. and Mrs. Stokes, this will be brief, I just want you to give an update about how the search is going." She said.

Just then they heard a loud noise. They turned and saw Catherine running towards them at full speed.

"We got him, we found him." She said, she was so excited she was nearly shouting.

"His he…?" Jackie's voice trailed off, she couldn't bring herself to finish the question.

"He's just fine, he's in Brass's arms as we speak, someone spotted him at the McDonalds on Elwood Drive and called the police, come on, let's go." Catherine said.

Nick and Jackie started crying, this time though the tears were pure joy. They embraced for a very short moment and then all three of them started running to Catherine's car.

Catherine drove, Jackie had wanted too but Catherine didn't think that was a very good idea. Catherine drove way over the speed limit and when she pulled into the McDonald's parking lot Jackie barely waited until the car came to a complete stop before jumping out and running towards the door, Nick and Catherine were right on her heels.

When Jackie opened the door to the restaurant she looked all around for Brass and the baby but she saw no sign of them.

"Where are they Catherine?" Jackie shouted in a frightened voice as she frantically scanned the restaurant.

"I don't know." Catherine said, she too sounded panicked.

To Be Continued…..


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Catherine quickly dug out her cell phone and dialed Brass's number.

"Jim where the hell are you?" she asked.

"Thank God, ok." She said just seconds later before she hung up.

Jackie had a death grip on Nick's arm as she waited to hear what was going on.

"We're at the wrong McDonalds' they are at the one on Norwood Drive, not Elmwood Drive, come on that's only a couple of miles from here." Catherine said as the three of them again dashed to Catherine's car.

They arrived at the other McDonalds's in record time and this time when Jackie opened the door to the restaurant there was Jim Brass holding Houston who was happily chewing on the older man's tie.

"Look, there's your mommy and daddy." Jim said as he pointed to Nick and Jackie after they had burst through the door.

"Houston." Jackie exclaimed as she raced to her child.

She immediately took him from Brass's arms, smothered him in kisses and hugged him tight as tears began to stream down her face. Nick kept running his hand through the very little hair the baby had, he too was crying.

Brass and Catherine stood next to each other, a ways away from the thrilled, reunited parents and the baby to give them some privacy but both of them were also crying, as was several people in the restaurant.

After several minutes passed Jackie looked the baby over, he didn't appear to have a scratch on him, although she would take him to the doctor anyways just to be completely sure he was ok.

Several more minutes passed before Brass came up and stood next to Nick and Jackie, he pointed to the other side of the restaurant and said "Nick, Jackie, you might want to thank that young woman sitting over there, she is the one who recognized Houston and called the police."

Nick and Jackie looked to where he was pointing. When Nick laid eyes on the young woman that Brass was pointing at Nick couldn't believe his eyes.

"Oh my God." He said in a low whisper.

**I know this chapter is short but it's a huge chapter….I will update soon!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Nick walked toward the young woman and Jackie followed him with Houston still in her arms. She didn't have a clue who the woman was but it was obvious Nick did.

"Cassie, Cassie McBride?" He asked when he had reached her table.

Jackie was so stunned her mouth dropped open. She had never met Cassie but she sure had heard a lot about her.

"Nick?" Cassie asked not really believing her eyes.

Nick broke out into a wide smile.

"Yeah, it's me." He said.

"He's your baby?" Cassie asked astonished as she nodded at Houston.

"Yes." Nick replied.

"I had no idea, I just recognized his face from the missing person poster, I didn't even know his name, I guess I didn't pay that close of attention to the details, I just love babies so his picture caught my eye." She said.

"Cassie, there is no way I can ever repay you for what you've done but from the bottom of my heart thank you so very much." Jackie said jumping into the conversation.

Cassie didn't know who Jackie was but she looked at her and smiled.

"Oh sorry, let me introduce you two. Cassie this is my wife Jackie and Jackie this is Cassie McBride."

"It's nice to meet you." Cassie said.

"It's nice to meet you too Cassie, I've heard so much about you." Jackie said.

Cassie smiled at her again.

"So Cassie how are things going?" Nick asked.

"They're going well, I'm in high school now, I have straight A's and I'm hoping to be valedictorian when I graduate in a couple years."

"Hey way to go." Nick said honestly impressed.

"Thank you, I figured that thanks to you I have a second chance at life so I should take advantage of it." She said.

Nick smiled at her and then asked "So I take it you still live in Vegas?"

"I live with my grandma in Henderson." She replied.

Nick nodded, he was so happy to hear that she lived with a family member.

"You know Nick for all these years I so badly wanted to find a way to express my gratitude for everything you did for me, your dedication saved my life, how do you ever find a way to properly say thank you?" she asked.

"I certainly think you found the best way possible." Jackie said interrupting the conversation again as she looked at Houston, who was now sucking on a string on her sweater.

After seeing that all eyes were on him he turned on the charm, he quit sucking on the sweater and gave everyone a wide grin.

"Showoff." Jackie said with a laugh and then she gave the baby a loving kiss on top of his head.

Cassie smiled at the infant, "he sure is cute." She declared.

Nick and Jackie smiled.

"Oh Cassie, before I forget, come with me and claim the reward money." Nick said.

"What reward money?" she asked sounding confused.

"For finding the baby, it's over twenty thousand dollars, Nick said lowering his voice a bit so people in the restaurant couldn't hear him.

Cassie's eyes grew huge "I'm not taking your money." She said adamantly.

"Yes you are, use it for college." Nick insisted.

"My college is paid for, not only am I hoping to get scholarships but also when my family…. I got everything." She said finishing her sentence.

"Cassie please, take it." Jackie said.

"No, use it for his college fund." She said nodding at Houston.

"Aaaa." The baby squealed happily, again showing off for his audience.

"See, he agrees with me." Cassie said with a laugh.

"But I want you to have it, for what you've done for us, we'd give you everything we have." Jackie insisted.

"Your husband gave me everything _I_ have, he gave me a second chance to live my life, he's given me enough, I don't need his money too." She said standing her ground.

Jackie looked at Nick for help with her argument but instead he just smiled at Cassie.

"You should be very proud of yourself Cassie." He said.

"Thank you Nick." She said as a warm smiled crossed her lips.

She glanced at her watch "I have to go or I'll be late for softball practice." She said regretfully as she got up and begun to pick up her trash.

She threw all of her garbage away and then wrapped Nick in a hug.

"Thank you for everything you've done for me." She said.

"Thank you for giving me my beloved baby boy back." He said as he hugged her back.

She looked him in the eye and nodded kindly.

"If you ever need anything or need to talk about anything my number is still the same." Nick offered.

"Thank you." She said.

He smiled at her.

She then gave Jackie a hug

"Thank you Cassie." She said, as tears threatened to fall from her eyes again.

"You're welcome." She said.

Houston felt like he was being ignored and made it known by reaching his hand out and grabbing Cassie's finger.

Cassie laughed "Bye cutie." She said.

"Aaaaa." Houston exclaimed loudly.

Jackie laughed "he's says thank you too."

"You're welcome sweetie." She said to the infant and then she turned around and headed for the door.

She turned back after she'd opened it and gave the happy, reunited family one last smile before she got in her car and drove away.

To Be Continued….


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Don't tell me to calm down Jim, the woman _stole_ my child." Jackie snapped angrily as she stormed the halls of the crime lab.

Nick and Brass were right on her heels. The woman who had kidnapped Houston was in the interrogation room and Nick and Jackie wanted to confront her, but by the looks of it Jackie wanted to do more than confront her, she wanted to strangle her.

"I know that Jackie but I can't let you go in there guns a blazin'" Brass said as he finally caught up to her, he put his hand on her shoulder so she couldn't walk anymore.

Jackie gave him a dirty look.

"Honey he's right, you gotta calm down." Nick said.

Jackie glared at her husband "How dare you, you are the one person that should be as livid as I am." She spat back angrily.

"I am, believe me, I want to pound her face into the ground but that won't solve anything, if we go after her we'll get in trouble."

"I don't care, I'd go to jail for my children in a heartbeat." Jackie said stubbornly.

Nick suppressed a smile, he too would do jail time for his kids but Nick knew Jackie was being a tad irrational right now, but he also knew that she had every right to be.

"If you get arrested you'll lose your teaching license." Nick reminded her.

"I don't care, I love my job but I love my children a lot more."

Nick shook his head, he tried one more thing to calm her down "What good are you going to be to the kids if you're in the slammer?" he asked trying to reason with her.

"Cassie didn't take the reward money, use that for my bail." was all she said.

Nick and Brass looked at each other and shrugged, neither knew any other way to calm her down.

After a couple minutes of the three of them just standing there Jackie had seemed to calm down somewhat, or she at least appeared that way on the outside.

"Are you ready?" Brass asked.

Jackie nodded so the three of them walked the rest of the short distance to the interrogation room.

Before they entered the room Nick grabbed Jackie's hand, partially so they could stand as a united front but also just in case Jackie charged the woman, Nick hoped that by holding her hand he would be able to hold her back until Brass and the officer in the room could intervene.

When they walked into the room Jackie sat calmly in a chair across from the woman. Nick and Brass exchanged a relieved glance at one another as Nick took a seat next to Jackie.

Jackie spoke first "First of all, I want to thank you." She said to the woman.

Nick was so stunned he nearly fell out of his chair and Brass raised his eyebrows at her.

The woman was also stunned "What?" she asked with shock evident in her voice.

Jackie took a deep breath before she responded "Many times when babies are kidnapped they are harmed, or worse, and you didn't hurt my son and for that I am very grateful." She said.

The woman nodded softly and then said "Mr. and Mrs. Stokes, I know you probably think I'm a monster and I don't blame you but I'm truly not a bad person. You're right Mrs. Stokes, I didn't hurt your baby, I would never, my husband and I treated him just like he was our own child. You see, my husband and I tried to get pregnant for nearly three years without success and then finally after three rounds of fertility treatments we did get pregnant, it was going to be a baby boy, we had the nursery all ready, you've never seen so much blue, we were so thrilled, and then one day when we went in for a routine checkup when I was seven months along there was no heartbeat." The woman's eyes filled with tears and even after what she had done Jackie couldn't help but feel very sorry for her.

The woman wiped her eyes and then continued "I didn't leave the house for a month, I just sat in the rocking chair in the nursery sobbing day after day, my husband didn't handle it any better than I did, he too was devastated. When I saw your baby boy laying in his car seat sleeping peacefully, I couldn't help it, he looked to be around the age my baby would have been and without thinking about it I just grabbed him. I am so truly sorry for what I put you through, I saw both of you on the news several times, and I would see the pain in your eyes and hear the sadness in your voice and I knew I should turn the baby in and confess to what I did but I just couldn't. The few days he was with us was the happiest my husband and I have ever been, and he is such a happy baby, he was always smiling. He slept in the nursery that my husband and I had prepared for our baby and I placed a baby monitor on my nightstand so if he woke up I'd hear him, well one night I heard him making noises and when I went into the nursery and peered into the crib he gave me this huge smile, it was so sweet. I picked him up and whispered _Hi Thomas_ and sat down in the rocking chair with him and he just cooed at me."

"Thomas?" Nick interrupted.

The woman shook her head "Sorry, Thomas was the name we had picked out for our baby."

Nick nodded.

The woman smiled softly and continued "Anyway I just sat there and rocked him until he fell back asleep. I felt like I had won the lottery. I know what I was horribly wrong and I hope that what I put you through can be lessened by the fact that you know your son was very well cared for when he was with us. I also hope you know that you are truly very blessed, you have not only your beautiful baby boy but your little girl is just down right adorable. You two certainly don't owe me any favors but I want to ask one of you anyway."

"What's that?" Jackie asked, tears were streaming down her face, she couldn't help herself, she felt so sorry for this poor woman, which she knew was a very odd way to feel considering what she had done.

"When you go home tonight, give both of your children a huge hug and a kiss, do it for all the couples out there that want a child more than anything in the world but can't have one, and most importantly never ever take your children for granted, not even for a second."

Nick, like his wife felt horrible for this poor lady.

"Ma'am, it's none of my business but I would like to ask you something if I may?" He said.

"Sure, anything." She responded.

"You seem like you would make a terrific mother, you have all this love that you would gladly give to a child, and there are so many children out there that need good homes, why instead of kidnapping a baby didn't you and your husband adopt one, you obviously could find it in your heart to love a baby that's not biologically yours, you did it with our son."

The woman gave him a slight smile "Thank you." She said and then added "And to answer your question, a few months after I had my miscarriage my husband was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer, the doctors didn't think he would make it but he beat the odds. We never looked into adoption because we figured that because there is a chance his cancer will come back we wouldn't be candidates for adoption."

Nick nodded at her in understanding with compassion in his eyes and Jackie was now sobbing uncontrollably

"Mr. and Mrs. Stokes I know I don't deserve forgiveness after what I did but I hope for your sakes you can find it in your hearts to forgive me."

"We forgive you." Nick said quietly without a moment's hesitation.

Jackie was crying so hard she couldn't speak but she nodded her head yes vigorously.

A sincere smile spread across the woman's face "Thank you." She said.

Nick returned the smile and nodded.

After a few minutes of silence Nick stood up, he helped Jackie to her feet and then the woman stood up as well. The officer in the room came up behind her and handcuffed her so he could escort her out of the room.

Before she was led away Nick said "Good luck to you, I sincerely hope that one day you will be able to have a child of your own."

"Thank you." She whispered and then the officer led her away.

Nick turned his attention to Jackie "You ok?" he asked softly.

"Yeah." She said quietly.

He smiled softly at her.

"Ready to go home?" he asked.

"More than ready." She said returning the smile.

"Ok then, let's go." He said as he grabbed her hand.

The exhausted couple walked out of the interrogation room hand and hand. They were both anxious to go home and see their children and they couldn't wait to have their lives return to normal.


End file.
